Recent advances in cancer-associated fibroblast:Biomarkers,signaling pathways,and therapeutic opportunities  

作　　者：Donger Zhou Lei Zheng 

机构地区：[1]Department of Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery,The Second Affiliated Hospital,Zhejiang University School of Medicine,Hangzhou,Zhejiang 310009,China [2]Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center,The Skip Viragh Pancreatic Cancer Center for Clinical Research and Care,and The Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore,MD 21287,USA

出　　处：《Chinese Medical Journal》2024年第6期638-650,共13页中华医学杂志（英文版）

基　　金：supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province,China(No.LQ15H160010);the National Science Foundation of China(No.81702382).

摘　　要：Anti-cancer therapies usually focus on tumor cells,but non-tumor stromal components in the tumor microenvironment also play vital roles in tumor initiation and progression,which may be the prognostic factors and potential therapeutic targets.Cancer-associated fibroblasts(CAFs)are the essential component in the tumor environment,exhibiting high heterogeneity in their cell origin and phenotype with diverse functions that influence tumor angiogenesis,immune systems,and metabolism.Single-cell RNA sequencing and genetically engineered mouse models have increased our understanding of CAF diversity,and many subtypes have been defined.However,the precise functions of these subtypes need to be studied and validated.Studies of signaling pathways and epigenetic changes in CAFs facilitate understanding of the phenotypes of CAFs and the crosstalk between tumor cells and CAFs to provide potential therapeutic targets.Some clinical trials,including phase III trials targeting CAFs,have been performed recently.However,few of these trials have generated promising results,which indicates that the complexity of CAFs in the tumor microenvironment remains largely unknown,and in-depth investigations of CAFs should be performed.This review summarizes the research on CAFs,focusing on the heterogeneity of their phenotypes and functions,specific signaling pathways,and the therapeutic strategies involving CAFs.Additionally,we briefly discuss the current technologies commonly used in CAF studies and describe the challenges and future perspectives of CAF research.

关 键 词：Cancer-associated fibroblasts Tumor microenvironment Anti-cancer therapy Targeted therapy 

分 类 号：R730.5[医药卫生—肿瘤]